Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire founder and chief executive of FTX cryptocurrency exchange, has revealed he intends to spend between US$100mln and US$1bn to influence the United States presidential election campaign in 2024.
In a podcast interview on Tuesday, Bankman-Fried was asked how much money he might donate during the next electoral cycle and replied if he were to bankroll a candidate against former president Donald Trump he would give "north of US$100mln" with a "soft ceiling" of US$1bn.
At this point, it is unclear whether Trump will run for the Republican nomination in 2024, with Florida governor Ron DeSantis a strong rival and who beat Trump in a recent poll.
A US$1bn donation would break existing records more than ten times over, according to OpenSecrets, a government watchdog that tracks campaign financing and lobbying.
Republicans Sheldon and Miriam Adelson spent US$218mln on political campaigns in 2020, making them the largest individual donors.
As for the amount of money he donates, Bankman-Fried said it depends on who's "running where and for why", noting that it's likely he would distribute it among various organisations.
Bankman-Fried explained he would focus his attention on sane governance and less on the political party, and said the US has a big responsibility to the world to shepherd the west in a responsible, but powerful manner.
His top priority is preventing the next pandemic, which he believes would cost "tens of billions of dollars."
The billionaire entrepreneur has donated significantly to political campaigns in the past, including US$5.2mln to now-President Joe Biden's 2020 campaign.
In January 2022, he founded the political action committee (PAC) Protect Our Future and donated US$23mln.
In April, the PAC spent US$9mln to support Democratic candidates, and in May, the PAC spent between US$8-10mn to support Carrick Flynn, who lost the bid for the newly created Oregon 6th District seat in the US House of Representatives.